San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
20 years of shaping Northern Baja cuisine
Some of the most distinctive cooking in the border region has been done by graduates of Tijuana’s Culinary Art School
If you’ve gone out to eat rib-eye rinds at Oryx restaurant in Tijuana, or enjoyed a sourdough loaf from Tahona, or sipped Rámuri’s Lágrimas Negras stout, you have witnessed firsthand the legacy of Culinary Art School. For its 20th anniversary, Culinary Art School — the first culinary school in northwest Mexico — is preparing to open the doors of its new building, Brecha, focused on innovation, research and experimentation. But even with its sights set on the horizon, its main figures offeran account of the institution’s trajectory, experience and future.
In 2003, Ana Laura Martínez Gardoqui and Javier González Vizcaíno, a married couple and co-founders of Culinary, found in Tijuana a city that would help them consolidate their desires, mainly because they could get ingredients from all over the world by crossing the border to the United States.
“Besides, the wine boom was starting and we were amazed with the richness of the Sea of Cortez and the extraordinary seafood from the Pacific. However, technical skills were missing,” says Martínez.
The first workshop Culinary offered back in 2003 was the “The ABC of the Kitchen” in the garage of a house they were renting in the Las Palmas neighborhood in Tijuana. They chose to name the school in English to embrace the binational and bilingual culture, and it paid off, as more than 21 percent of its student body now crosses from the United States to Mexico to pursue their professional careers at the institution.
“People believed in us. Six months in we brought a sommelier; top-level enthusiasts who today are in charge of wineries in Valle signed up,” remembers Martínez.
However, it wasn’t until 2008 that Ana Laura and Javier broke ground on what today is known as the Culinary Art School in the Tercera Etapa del Río Tijuana; back then, nothing existed of what surrounds it today, except the Fundación Castro Limón and Hospital General Regional 1 facilities.
Apart from willpower and determination, another great influence was the presence in the region of many people with a passion for good food and drink, such as Hugo D’acosta, Hans Backoff Escudero and Eduardo Liceaga, who kick-started the wine trend in Valle de Guadalupe.
Mariana López, one of the more than 1,850 graduates of the culinary arts degree program, and winner of the Turquois Foundation of Monaco scholarship, is currently working as pastry chef of The Guild Hotel’s new restaurant Artisto under the leadership of chefs — and Culinary alumni — Ruffo Ibarra and Janina Garay. “Graduating from Culinary and knowing Javier has been like having a mutual friend everywhere,” López said in an interview with The San Diego Union-tribune en Español.
She added that although getting a foothold in the food industry is tough, studying at Culinary prepared her well to become an entrepreneur, and also introduced her to and gave her the foundation
of what today is her specialty: classic French pastries.
López, like other alumni, doesn’t work in Mexico, expanding Culinary’s presence to over 14 countries.
Reyna Venegas, also a graduate of the culinary arts degree program in 2010, said that the connections between Culinary and prestigious national and international restaurants for student doing internships have enriched the region’s cuisine and the work of the gourmet community.
“These international experiences expanded the mind of many young students who are now considered great Mexican talents. Culinary is always looking for talent to flourish, contributing new knowledge to keep building and enjoying our Mexican cuisine,” she said.
Venegas is the executive chef of La Cocina que Canta in Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Baja California. Her specialty is healthy and environmentally conscious food. She has also shared her knowledge at Culinary as an instructor in its healthy food, organizational production and pastry foundation courses and workshops.
Martínez affirms the importance and influence alumni have had in the region. “Over time, awareness grew in the area because restaurant owners would hire our students, and many of our alumni have started their own businesses and schools, such as Fredy Cruz, who is now the director of the culinary department within Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.”
Without a doubt, every generation of students that goes through Culinary has adapted to changes the industry requires, said professor and chef Marcelo Kenju Hisaki Itaya. “Current generations have a different perspective than those 15 years ago because teaching and training models have taken new forms toward sustainable and health-conscious cooking,” he said.
Hisaki is the chef at Restaurante Amores in Tecate and has taught at Culinary since 2015. Among his subjects are Old World cuisine, charcuterie, and culinary arts and trends. He is also spearheading the development of the innovation kitchen at Brecha.
Juan José “Tana” Plascencia Huerta, the president of the restaurant industry trade group Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Restaurantes y Alimentos Condimentados (Canirac), added that the creation of CAS was one of the first steps toward positioning not only the city of Tijuana, but the state of Baja California, as one of the five culinary destinations in Mexico.
“Tijuana has become a gastronomic destination because of its food diversity and because Culinary has generated many local talents that nowadays are renowned chefs who have contributed to the regional recognition,” he said.
The impact is also financial, according to Canirac: The restaurant business generates around 76,500 jobs statewide in Baja California; Tijuana tops the list with 7,000 active restaurants, of which 600 are partners of Canirac.
Culinary also contributed to international events, for example when chef Hisaki competed in 2023 in the culinary competition Bocuse D’or — the first time in 12 years a Mexican chef had made it to the finals.
Another key moment in Culinary’s history was when the school served as a member of Baja California’s Tourism Secretary committee in 2013, in order to recognize the Mexican state’s cuisine as cultural heritage for the people of Baja California.
“Today,” Gonzalez said, “we have a Baja California that has turned out to be a leading state in terms of cuisine, talent and novelty, and is practically (a) very good addition to the national culinary scene.”
The idea of Brecha — which translates as “gap” but speaks to its goal of “making paths for our community and young people” — was born five years ago, centered on culinary research with an eye toward becoming a gastronomic cultural center.
“It is important to know what elements are currently shaping the industry to give value to the ingredients and bring little-known raw materials without invading our cuisine — for example, how to integrate the seaweed that grows in the Pacific. And to do this, we require research,” said Martínez.
Brecha is made up of the yearold cafe Viajando con el Sol; proceeding step by step throughout this year, it will open a boutique hotel, a pastry section, the Kaj Kab chocolate shop, a restaurant and an innovation workshop, all collaborative projects with students and graduates.
Undoubtedly, the history of Baja California’s gastronomy mirrors the “before” and “after” of Culinary Art School, which redefined a cuisine that dared to be different to such a degree that it is now part of the peninsula’s identity.